Anyone in the Evergreen-Area Run Formula brakes?

Having some pretty wretched experiences with Avid XO (I know, I know: Avid sucks) and am thinking of switching to Formulas. Does anyone in the Evergreen area have these? Do you like? Any chance I could check em out? I'm really interested in how the initial engagement feels. I love how - when you hit the brakes on Shimano XTs - there is a distinct feeling of the pads hooking up to the rotors. The Avids don't have that. HOping the Formulas do b/c I can't really run XT as I run Grip Shift.

Formulas are definitely a league above Avids (which is an odd thing since they helped Avid with the design of their brakes). Nevertheless, the initial bite varies between models. A good, cost effective Fromula is a RXO; RX levers, RO calipers. T1 or The Ones of old, have a more pronounced bite (so much so that I run one sintered and one organic pad in each caliper).

Formulas need a really experienced person to bleed them properly, they like to trap air bubbles.

_MK

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not just surrounded by a*holes

I run Formula Brakes on all of my bikes. Love 'em. I own or have owned RX, Biancas, The Ones, and ROs. Good stuff. Very strong brakes. Some folks don't love the feel but I sure do. If you ever get up to the North country up here, I'm happy to let you check 'em out.

I run R0 on my DH rig and a pair of '11 Ones on my AM rig and I love them. I noticed that out of the box they had a good feel, but once I bled them well they had a very noticeable difference in the positive direction. Most of the newer ones have the Bite adjustment, which when dialed on a set of new pads is almost dangerous strong.

Truly a one finger brake, no more is needed with these.

Only issue is the reach can be pretty far out for some people. I personally don't have this issue, but people with smaller hands may. There is a guy on PB that has made a custom push rod that corrects this issue if you want to go that route.

Has shimano changed the levers on the XT's over that last few years? I run XT's and GripShifts with no problems, however, the brakes are an older version (approx 4-5 yrs old). The levers in the photos from the link above do look short.

Hmm. Those XT lever adaptors may be what I'm looking for. I really like the feel of XT and the use of mineral oil instead of DOT fluid.

Evergreen Bicycle Outfitters has a pair of Formula One's mounted up to a Ritchey and they felt dam nice.

Avid is sending me a brand new set of 2013 XO's as warranty replacements. They're supposed to come in today. Zack at EBO thinks I should mount them up b/c he thinks the changes AVid has made from the 2012 models (which I had) ought to address the leak issues and deliver better bite. But part of me thinks I should just leave em in the box so they'd be easy to re-sell and just grab some Formulas.

MK_: What in particular makes the Formulas harder to bleed than other brakes?

I've bled most Maguras, lots of different Shimanos, and some Avids as well as pretty much all current Formulas. Of all the brakes I've bled, I've found the Juicys and all formulas to be significantly more difficult to get all the little air pockets eliminated from the brake.

I don't have nearly anywhere close to the level of exposure to bleeding brakes as Dave does, but I've bled enough brakes to say that most if not all complaints about Formulas come from people being unable to properly bleed them.

_MK

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not just surrounded by a*holes

Any shimano (even the new Deore I've tested) performed better than any other brand of brake I've ever ridden. New Avid Trail stuff is better than the old stuff, Formula is rad but expensive rotors and small bits, while shimano, even the base model stuff seems to out perform it all. I think the best value in brakes right now, hands down, is the SLX with Ice Tech. I have done lots of very long descents on those with little to no brake fade. That said, on some avids I went through a set of pads after a shuttle day after 9k of descending. Yes, that's a lot for a non-DH brake all in one day with 3k descent runs, but still, shouldn't have to buy new pads from just that one day of riding.

Are calipers specific to rotor sizes? Avid sent me warranty replacements with 160mm front and rear, but I was running a 180mm front. Can I keep my 180mm rotor and mounting bracket and use with the new calipers they sent?